Hey sorry I didn’t call or email or text or skype or AIM or twitter with birthday wishes. I did send a message out to the universe – one with love and birthday blessings. Nevertheless, don’t take me not contacting you directly as a sign of not caring. It’s just rather hard to contact someone after they scream obscenities and abuses in between asking demanding that I get out of your life because you can’t handle being my friend.

Anywho, I hope your 38th birthday was momentous regardless of my presence. For the record I was going to send you a nice goodie bag with:

and

Oh and you know, I’m all about self-improvement. So this one was definitely one I think you should have (maybe you can buy this for yourself):

Like many yoga practices, this breathing practice is taken from nature, in this case by mimicking the sound of a buzzing bee.

The Bee is very useful preparation for meditation, and is a simple, straightforward tool that can be used to relax the autonomic nervous system. For teachers and health professionals, this is a gentle, extremely useful practice that can easily be taught to virtually anybody.

Sit up erect in a chair, such that your abdomen and chest are “open” (rather than slouching). Allow your eyes to close. Relax your body.

Close your lips throughout the practice, but leave your mouth cavity open in the back, in the area of the throat.

Then, simply make a sound like a buzzing bee, as you exhale through the nostrils, pushing in at the upper abdomen, while allowing the chest to remain relatively still.

Be aware of the feel of the vibration in the throat, the mouth, the cheeks, and the lips. You will hear the sound from within.

After the buzzing exhalation, then silently inhale through the nostrils, leaving the lips closed, and allowing the lower ribs to flare out slightly as the diaphragm muscle contracts. Again, be aware of the feel and listen to the sound.

Do the practice aloud for about two minutes.

Then do the practice silently, only in your mind for about two minutes, making no external sound, and not allowing the vocal cords to vibrate. Just imagine internally that you are hearing the sound. (To continue the practice silently, for an even longer period of time can lead to a very pleasant meditation)

As an alternative to measuring an amount of time, you may want to internally count a certain number of breaths (such as 15-20) to do aloud, rather than watching a clock.

Then, internally count the same number of breaths, but doing it silently, making no audible sound nor moving your throat or vocal cords.

You will notice that this practice of “the bee” easily brings a calmness to the body, the breath, and the mind:

Body is easily relaxed.

Breath is automatically smooth, slow, and with no jerks or pauses.

Mind is free from chatter.

While you do the practice, allow your mind to be wide awake, clear, and gently focused. This is a practice of being alert and calm, not of going to sleep or entering into a trance.

You can easily have the benefits of this practice at any time, in any public place. All you have to do is leave your eyes open and make no audible sound as you sit quietly. Internally, you are gently practicing “the bee.”

Take the peacefulness, calmness and clarity with you into your daily life after completing the practice.

Namaḥ Śivaya has such power, the mere intonation of these syllables reaps its own reward in salvaging the soul from bondage of the treacherous instinctive mind and the steel bands of a perfected externalized intellect. Namaḥ Śivāya quells the instinct, cuts through the steel bands and turns this intellect within and on itself, to face itself and see its ignorance.

Sages declare that mantra is life, that mantra is action, that mantra is love and that the repetition of mantra, japa, bursts forth wisdom from within. The holy Natchintanai proclaims, “Namaḥ Śivāya is in truth both Āgama and Veda. Namah Śivāya represents all mantras and tantras. Namaḥ Śivaya is our souls, our bodies and possessions. Namaḥ Śivāya has become our sure protection.”